Lover of books and book reviewer. Usually found in a comfy chair with a book.

Blog Tour Review: Tempting Isabel by Rissa Brahm

Wedding planner Isabel Ruiz is cursed. Her hometown of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico agrees, considering her tragic track record. Alone and loveless, she creates fairy-tale weddings for others. Her only distraction? The occasional anonymous fling. So to avoid further tragedy, her rule, one–night–only, is never broken…

Until Zack.

Self-made millionaire Zack James is in town for his brother’s wedding, when a sudden spell of depression hits. Maybe burned out by his fast and luxurious lifestyle? Not even his two female companions hold any interest.

That is, until he meets Isabel.

She humbles and captivates him, reigniting his thirst for life. With her, Zack feels more alive than ever. To his delight—and her dismay—they share a deep bond, a sensual connection, and one mind-bending night.

Zack must have her – to complete him. And Isabel must escape him – to save him.

Their game of catch and chase leads to lust-turned-love. For Isabel, it’s fate’s cruelest joke. But Zack won’t quit, positive he’s the cure to her curse. Can he convince her to risk everything with him? Or will it all go south…in paradise.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Review: This book is a different genre from the one’s I normally read but it is one I’ve dabbled in in the past and so is not completely new to me. It’s also most definitely an adult read so not for anyone under 18.

While I don’t stray far from my usual genres these days the blurb for this novel intrigued me, it suggested a different type of story to the ones I’ve read in the past, something where the relationship and characters was more focused on than any sex scenes and I was right. This story gave us two main characters, Zach and Isabel. Isabel I liked despite her having some qualities that irritated me, she was proud of what she had acheived, despite some tragedies and had worked hard for the life she had built for herself. Zach was more annoying. He was nice up to a point, he definitely had good qualities and would probably be someone you could have a laugh with but he was also a self-confessed womanizer (not my type) and didn’t show a lot of respect for Isabel’s choices and decisions. That said, he is definitely someone you want around when you need support or protection.

The story itself was good, Zach is in town for his brother’s wedding and meets Isabel though things don’t go smoothly. However, they cannot avoid each other completely as Isabel is the wedding planner for his brother’s wedding. This leads to all sorts of issues with Isabel, Zach, his family, his soon to be sister-in-laws family, the list goes on. Throughout this they meet and talk and discover that there is a bond between them that Zach won’t let go of and Isabel tries to ignore.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book. I did find it a little long and felt some things were drawn out a bit more than necessary, one of which was one of the sex scenes which I thought was a bit long and a bit too descriptive. Those points aside this is a good debut novel and I would be interested in reading more of this authors work.

About the author: Contemporary romance writer Rissa Brahm grew up in New York and has since lived in all four corners of the United States, and beyond. e beautiful paradise of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico—the core setting of her hot & heartfelt debut series, Paradise South—is Rissa’s most recent and beloved home.

When not chained-by-choice to her MacBook, she is embarking on out- door adventures with her husband and little girl, laughing to tears with a good rom-com, eating amazing Indian food with something chocolate for dessert; reading good, hot scorchers in bed; biking, long walks, and yoga; zoning out to killer music from across the decades and the globe; and getting lost only to discover a new exciting route home again. You can connect with Rissa on Facebook, Twitter or by email any time by heading to www.RissaBrahm.com.